family The Cousin Explainer is very helpful David Pescovitz

dna Larry David and Bernie Sanders just found out they're actually related Carla Sinclair

sesame street A dark fan theory explores the illicit affair between Elmo's mom and his Uncle Jack Thom Dunn

apps The Photo Roulette app sends a random photo from your phone to your friends John Struan

robocalls It's not just you — social security scam phone calls are 23 times more common this year Thom Dunn

tabloids How Mafia Killed the Pope, Meghan & Harry quit the Royal Family, and the Obamas divorce, in this week’s dubious tabloids Peter Sheridan

tv 1977 Woolworth TV commercial for Halloween masks, candy, and a record of spooky sounds Rusty Blazenhoff

law Affluent parents surrender custody of their kids to "scam" their way into needs-based college scholarships Cory Doctorow

video games My On-the-go gaming set-up Jason Weisberger

police Police officer says "F**k You is my name" when man asks Rob Beschizza

happy mutants David Silverberg's "Terms and Conditionals": the things you just agreed to David Silverberg

Business To reduce plastic packaging, ship products in solid form Cory Doctorow

health Open Insulin: biohackers trying to create a "microbrewery" for insulin as an answer to price-gouging Cory Doctorow

web theory Remembering the pre-Netscape browsers Cory Doctorow

happy mutants SO LATE SO SOON: fun, genre-celebrating SF for young readers (of all ages!) Harry Tynan AKA Moose Malloy

future The urgent threat of hormone-disrupting chemicals to our health and future Mark Frauenfelder

biographies Edward Gorey's macabre tarot deck from 1966 Mark Dery

kindle The new waterproof Kindle Paperwhite got my kid to take a bath Jason Weisberger

security If you're an American of European descent, your stupid cousins have probably put you in vast commercial genomic databases Cory Doctorow

art The Weird of Wendy Pini Rob Beschizza